In 1952 Cossington Smith was awarded the Mosman Art Prize by Margaret Preston for Gum blossom and drapery, painted the same year. What Preston appreciated most was the local content. As she noted in her adjudicator’s comments: ‘This country must have an Art of its own, and whilst we have something on this occasion which may seem a little queer, it is, nevertheless, quite distinctive and typical of Australia. The pictures were judged with the viewpoint of Australian Art – not as something just pleasing to the eye, but something which reflected a sense of mental vision’. (Margaret Preston, adjudicator’s report, 1952, Mosman Art Gallery, New South Wales.)